We all long to love and to be loved, but so often we forget that there is more to love, than the romantic love between two people. So I would like to share with you my ways of bringing more love into my life:
Be Love (Photograph & Text by Imke Rust)
#one: self-love.
If we cannot love ourselves, how can we possibly know how to love somebody else? So the best is to start a love affair with yourself right away. Just treat yourself the way you would like to be treated. Take yourself out to dinner. Give yourself a hug. Forgive yourself. And start laughing with yourself about your latest mishap, just like you would if it happened to your best friend, and you would like to make him or her feel better.
#two: love for another. any other. every other.
When you can feel and express love for the sunshine that tickles your face in the morning, or the beautiful shape of the tree on your way to work or for the stranger that moves slightly to let you pass, then you will soon realise that love is all around you.
#three: love to create.
We are always busy creating something. We are creating our look, when we get dressed in the morning. We create when we prepare a meal or arrange the stuff on our work desks. Celebrate these creations and create with love. And while you are waiting for the bus, you could quickly stack a few rocks onto each other, arrange some twigs into a beautiful shape or create love in any other way that gives you joy.
…but the easiest way is to be love.
Be love in every moment, every action and every thought! Just ask yourself: what would love do right now?
Just be love and the universe will love you straight back! I promise!
NOTE:
For those of you, who wonder what this post has to do with my art: Everything.
Creation is love (see #three) and I have started to allow myself some more self-love (#one) to let go more and more the restrictions and limitations which are prescribed by society and to rather listen to my heart. I want to be an artist on my terms. One that shares not only the ‘masterworks-in-oil-that-are-acceptable-to-be-shown-in-the-gallery, but who shares who I am as a full being. A multifaceted being, with my humour, spirituality, other interests, worldviews depression, fears and silliness.
I have freed myself of the restrictive and limiting terms ‘visual artist’ or ‘environmental artist’, ‘painter’ etc and dared to call myself what I truly believe I am: Multi-Passionate Creative Being.
I have also made a new little side note to explain to new-comers to the blog what it is about and what to expect. Have a look at the top right corner of the blog page.
Creating is one thing, but I would love to share the whole palette of being creative and being me with you. That way I hope to spread more of my love and me-being-love with you (#two).
Thank you for being there and reading my blog. Thank you for your support, comments, likes and appreciation of my art! 🙂
I love you!
PS. I do not consider myself a photographer, but I am also quite chuffed with the photograph I took of the flowers, so I just had to show you!
Imke Rust 
An excellent photo indeed Imke! I’m glad you are “chuffed” over it. It must be good to be “chuffed”, but honestly, I have no idea what that means. 😉
Thank you for the compliment!! Since English is not my first language for a moment I thought ‘oh no, I used some slang or Namlish (Namibian English) word’…. but looked it up, and it is actually a normal English adjective for being very pleased or delighted. 🙂 So now you can be chuffed to have learned a new word 😉
For learning a new word and getting to know you, I am chuffed indeed! 😀
Oh, thank you, now i am blushing!
🙂
How wonderful Imke! Love your new ‘about’ on the right! Just reading it makes me curious and very excited to learn more. And this post is great! Especially point three (i just build a little pretty pile of dishes in my sink, instead of washing them…). And the ‘multi-passionate creative being’. Love it!!!
A big cyber hug
Jutta
Ps: Gorgeous photo! Is that spring arriving?
Thank you, Jutta. Wonderful, I love that you are having creative fun with the dishes!
I am slowly tweaking the webpage and my life into something that feels more authentic and more like me. And trying to really figure out where the should and shouldn’ts of society really apply to me and where not. So changing the blog intro and the Tagline, was one big freeing step into that direction, and it feels great (and a bit scary).
The photo is from a recent beautiful summer morning in Windhoek… I hope it will invoke spring here too 😉
Thank you for the hug – and love and hugs right back to you!
I am coming more and more to the conclusion that being authentic is the only thing that matters! Love the pink too 🙂 xxxx
Ps: raining just now!
I fully agree and it is nice to find it so beautifuully experessed.
Love-Ute
Thank you, Ute! I just love the photo, and think it expresses it so much, because those flowers grow like weed and are seldom seen for their simple beauty. I took photographs of something else, when I suddenly noticed the absolute beauty with the sun falling onto these flowers. This plant is not there to impress like a rose, it just simply is. I thought that is being love: being pretty in a simple way, without expecting anybody to notice it. 🙂